In re Scrub Island Development Group Ltd.

523 B.R. 862, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 217, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 252, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 155
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJanuary 26, 2015
DocketCase No. 8:13-bk-15285-MGW, Case No. 8:13-bk-15286-MGW
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 523 B.R. 862 (In re Scrub Island Development Group Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Scrub Island Development Group Ltd., 523 B.R. 862, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 217, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 252, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 155 (Fla. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO’S EMERGENCY MOTION FOR STAY PENDING APPEAL

Michael G. Williamson, United States Bankruptcy Judge

This Court recently confirmed a chapter 11 plan that provides for the payment of approximately $122 million to FirstBank Puerto Rico over 30 years. To make the plan work, the Debtors, who operate a resort in the British Virgin Islands, had to acquire two partially constructed villas owned by creditors and a desalinization plant that provides fresh water to the resort. The primary argument advanced by the Bank in support of its contention that this Court’s confirmation order has no chance of withstanding an appeal is that it improperly interferes with the Bank’s first mortgage on the villas and purchase option on the desalinization plant. This Court must now decide whether to stay its confirmation ruling pending the Bank’s appeal on those (and other) issues.

While the Court acknowledges that stays pending appeal are appropriate in certain cases, the Bank’s request here is the latest in a long line of bad-faith attempts to keep the Debtors from successfully restructuring their business. Among other things, the Bank secretly conspired with the individual employee charged with running the resort on behalf of the Debtors to thwart their efforts to take the Bank up on its offer to buy out its loans for a discounted amount before this case was filed.1 Then during this case, the Bank rejected proposed plan treatment that was identical to a $37.5 million term sheet the [865]*865Bank signed with a third-party investor and, instead, exercised its rights under § 1111(b) requiring the Debtors to pay the Bank the full amount of its $119 million claim. When, presumably to the surprise of the Bank, the Debtors were able to confirm a plan that complied with § 1111(b), the Bank' appealed the Court’s confirmation ruling by essentially challenging the Debtors’ means of implementing the plan.

The Court concludes that it is unlikely the Bank will prevail on its appeal. The Bank’s motion is premised entirely on a misrepresentation as to the terms of the confirmed plan in this case and a misunderstanding of the confirmation process in general. To hear the Bank tell it, the Bank is being stripped of its liens entirely on the villas and being forced to give up its liens on the rest of the Debtors’ property in exchange for less valuable, more volatile liens on substitute collateral. And the Bank says the Court cannot confirm a plan that strips it of its liens or forces it to accept liens on substitute collateral that is less valuable and more volatile because the Bankruptcy 'Code does not expressly authorized that treatment.

In actuality, the Bank is keeping its liens on the villas until they are sold (and the Bank is paid in full), and as for the remainder of its collateral, the Bank is either receiving the proceeds from the sale of individual lots or villas or a lien on a “sinking fund” that is being used to enhance the Bank’s remaining collateral. This treatment is permissible under the Bankruptcy Code. The Bankruptcy Code provides a chapter 11 debtor with great flexibility to formulate a plan — limited only by the debtor’s creativity and the prohibition in § 1123(b)(6) that the plan provisions not be in “inconsistent” with the Bankruptcy Code. Because the Debtors’ confirmed plan is not inconsistent with the Bankruptcy Code, the Bank will not be able to persuade a district court on appeal that this Court’s confirmation ruling was clearly erroneous.

And it is abundantly clear that the Debtors will be irreparably harmed if the Court stays its confirmation ruling pending the appeal. A carefully tailored feasible plan of reorganization will be destroyed. The Debtors will be denied essential funding, which will result in their resort being shut down, and the Bank will accomplish what it could not during the confirmation process. Finally, public policy favors permitting Debtors an opportunity to implement their confirmed plan. Because the Bank is attempting to use the requested stay pending appeal to keep the Debtors from implementing a confirmed plan that easily satisfies the confirmation requirements under the Bankruptcy Code, the Bank’s request for a stay will be denied.

Background2

The Debtors in this case are Scrub Island Development Group Limited and Scrub Island Construction Limited. Scrub Island Development owns Scrub Island, a 230-acre island located in the British Virgin Island. Scrub Island consists of Big Scrub Island and Little Scrub Island, which are connected by an isthmus. Scrub Island Development owns the Scrub Island Resort, which is located on Big and Little Scrub Islands, and Scrub Island Construction was created to construct villas in the resort.

[866]*866Scrub Island Development contracted 'with Mainsail Lodging & Development to be the exclusive developer and operator of the Scrub Island Resort. Joe Collier is a principal of Mainsail. Collier is also a principal and essentially CEO of Scrub Island Development and Scrub Island Construction.

Development of Scrub Island

The development of Scrub Island was somewhat by happenstance. In 2003, Collier visited Scrub Island while on a sailing trip to the British Virgin Islands. During that visit, Collier met the owners of Scrub Island — Pam McManus and her two sons. At the time, the McManuses were running a restaurant on the island and had thoughts of developing the island one townhouse at a time through Scrub Island Development. Between 2003 and 2005, Collier pitched the owners of Scrub Island on his vision for a condominium-hotel project on the island and began the process for implementing that vision.

As envisioned, the condominium-hotel would consist of 26 ocean view guest rooms in what would be known as Marina Village, hillside and ocean view villas (known as Long View and Ocean Villas), a 55-slip deep-water marina, a pool, three restaurants, a spa, and a fitness center. The idea was to sell the villas as condominiums and have the owners participate in a rental program where their condominiums are rented out as hotel rooms when not used by the owners. By law, unit owners cannot be compelled to participate in the rental program. But the Debtors took sort of a “carrot and stick” approach to encouraging participation in the rental program. The “carrot” was that the Debtors would completely furnish (furniture, linens, pots, pans, etc.) and maintain (clean, cut grass, etc.) the unit if the owner participated in the rental program. The “stick” was that unit owners who did not participate in the rental program were responsible for common area maintenance fees for the resort. Ultimately, all of the unit owners participated, which meant that when they were not using their units, they were put into the rental program and the owners earned revenue when they were rented out.

Funding for the Project

Early on, funding for the project came from Scrub Island Development’s shareholders. Between 2003 and 2005, Scrub Island’s current and former shareholders provided $2.9 million in funding. Of course, Scrub Island Development ultimately needed bank financing for the proposed development. So it began putting together a bank package to solicit financing from lenders.

The point person for putting the bank package together was James Taitón. Tai-tón, who Collier described as “my guy,” was Vice President of Development for'the project. In that role, he was essentially running the development.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Astria Health
E.D. Washington, 2021

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
523 B.R. 862, 25 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 217, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 252, 60 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-scrub-island-development-group-ltd-flmb-2015.